Geo Chp 6/7 at Kean University - StudyBlue StudyBlue Africa is one of only two continents containing a cluster of e Which of the following is associated with the concept of continental drift? b disease that spreads worldwide is known as a c The major difference between an endemic and a pandemic disease is c West africa showed a high degree of regional complementarity between E Before independence the modern state of The congo was a colony of D Which of the following states was not a colony of France prior to its independence C Not a british colony prior to its independence D The last country to give up its African colonies was E Following countries not located in Southern Africa B The great river of Africa is the A A unique aspect of Madagascar is that B People of Dutch ancestry in South Africa are called B The Boer War took place B South Africa contains significant untapped petroleum reserves False The natural environment of Botswana is dominated by B Home of the Shona and Ndebele tribes where whites have been expelled by govt backed squatters seeking their land C The now independent politial entity that once was a German colony was names South West Africa is known as A following countries is not located in Equatorial Africa?

C The capital of The Congo is D The largest city in terms of population in Sub-Saharan Africa B The two groups who fought one another in the Rwandan civil war are the: D The country in Equatorial Africa with significant oil supplies and the only coastal capital is D The country in Equatorial Africa that had a border dispute with Nigeria over an oil-rich area is: B following countries is located in the Bulge of Africa? A Which two colonial powers dominated West Africa? A Nigeria's old capital of Lagos was situated within the culture area of the people known as the B The country that moved its capital from Lagos to the new centrally-located city of Abuja is A The first West African state to gain its independence, formerly called the Gold Coast, is: A This West African country borders Liberia, is a former French colony, and built a Roman Catholic basilica in Yamoussoukro to rival St. Peter's in Rome: A of the following countries was established by former American slaves E A market that is set up only on certain days of the week is known as a _____ market D Which of the following is located in the African Transition Zone?

C Which of the following countries is not located in The African Transition Zone E Most countries in the African Transition Zone have a _____ population in the north and a _____ population in the south B Which of the following does not lie within the presently delimited country of Somalia: D Which of the following countries is located in the Horn of Africa E This small country gains much of its importance because of its location on the Bab el Mandeb Strait at the mouth of the Red Sea E of the following is not included in the North Africa/Southwest Asia realm A North Africa/Southwest Asia is referred to the following except E _____ is the name for the land between the rivers. B 4) Hydraulic civilization theory holds that B Which of the following is not an Old World culture hearth? D Which area was least influenced by the spread of Islam C What is the difference between expansion diffusion and relocation diffusion A Shi'ite Muslims constitute the great majority of the population of: E The dominant form of Islam in Saudi Arabia is: B The empire that ruled over much of Southwest Asia prior to World War I was the A Which of the following countries is not a major oil producer E The North Africa/Southwest Asia realm contains about _____ percent of the world's oil reserves.

D Egypt's largest city, Cairo, is located on the shore of Lake Nasser in Upper Egypt incorrect D The city of _____ is located at the confluence of the White Nile and Blue Nile, and serves as the capital of _____. A The Aswan High Dam is located on the: B Egypt's peasant farmers are known as the B Which of the following is not located in the vicinity of the Nile Delta B The upstream country that could control the flow of the Nile River into Egypt is: B Darfur Province, the recent scene of a massive ethnic cleansing, is located in the central-west B Which of the following is not located within the Maghreb region? D The western North African countries of Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco are collectively called: A Which of the following oil producers does not border the Persian Gulf? C The major mountain range in North Africa is the: B b) Algeria has been a nation into which many people have been migrating over the past 10 years. False The North African exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla are associated with which country? D Which North African country fought a bitter war of liberation against the French? C This country is the smallest in North Africa, but has the highest GNI per capita in North Africa.

C Which of the following rivers flows through Iraq? A In Iraq, the Shi'ite population is concentrated in: D Iraq's oil cities of Kirkuk and Mosul are located within the area of _____ population. A Which of the following countries is not located on the Arabian Peninsula? A The Rub al Khali (Empty Quarter) lies near the border between Saudi Arabia and C The Rub al Khali (Empty Quarter) lies near the border between Saudi Arabia and C The country that controls the Musandam Peninsula that protrudes into the Persian Gulf is C The choke point known as the _____ lies between Yemen and Djibouti C The Ottoman Empire was headquartered in the city of A Kemal Atatürk is most closely identified with the city of D Turkey's application for membership in the EU will be helped by all but which of the following? B The Kalahari Desert is found in the central part of The Congo False The Berlin Conference took place immediately after World War I and was attended by 8 colonial powers interested in acquiring African spheres of influence. False Ivory Coast and Ghana were both French colonies.

False The term “veld” refers to the forested area of northern South Africa False Under the terms of the separate development program, South Africa's land was divided equally between the majority Africans and the minority whites. False South Africa's cities almost stopped growing during the period of apartheid False Equatorial Africa is the most developed region of the realm False The Hutus and Tutsis fought for control of Uganda. False The Yoruba are the dominant ethnic group in The Congo. False Sierra Leone was settled by former American slaves. False The bulk of West Africa's population is concentrated in the region's north. False Periodic markets are found in the central city squares of West Africa's largest urban concentrations. False The Islamic Front is located on the northern fringes of the Sahara False Senegal is a country in the Horn of Africa. False Eritrea is a region located in Sudan that has been fighting a war of independence since 1956. False The edge of the African plateau in Southern Africa, where the feature is especially pronounced, is known as the Great _____. Escarpment The 1884 conference of all the major colonial powers that essentially drew the modern political map of Africa, was held in the European city of _____.

Berlin Prior to their independence, Moçambique and Angola were both colonies of _____. Portugal The African mainland country directly west of the island of Madagascar is _____. Mocambique The capital of The Congo, called Leopoldville in colonial times, is _____. Kinshasa The most populous country of the African continent, which today comprises a confederation of the Yoruba, Ibo, and northern Muslim peoples, is _____. Nigeria Nigeria's dominant export commodity, produced in large quantities is _____. oil The advancing religion in the African Transition Zone is _____. Islam The southern periphery of the African Transition Zone is known as the _____ Front. Islamic The country that is located at the tip of the African Horn is _____. Somalia Leopoldville - definition of Leopoldville by The Free Dictionary Leopoldville - definition of Leopoldville by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Thesaurus , Encyclopedia , Wikipedia . Le·o·pold·ville (Placename) the former name (until 1966) of Kinshasa Kin•sha•sa (kɪnˈʃɑ sə, ˈkɪn ʃɑ sə) n.

the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in the NW part, on the Congo (Zaire) River. 4,655,313. Formerly, Léopoldville. ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend: Noun 1. Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us , add a link to this page, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content . Link to this page: zaire References in periodicals archive ? org is proud and honored to sponsor the "Leopoldville - A Tragedy Too Long Secret" Texas book tour in September for the most noted Leopoldville historian and author, Allan Andrade. Rwanda : Rwanda joins the rest of the world to mark World Post Day The documents, which bore the letterhead of the South African Institute for Maritime Research, seemed to say that a bomb planted on Hammarskjold's aircraft had failed to explode on take-off from Leopoldville (the colonial name for Kinshasa) but had been activated before landing at Ndola in northern Zambia. The Dag Hammarskjoid mystery new report released! Was it murder?

In deep, isolated jungle 1,000 miles from the capital Leopoldville, now called Kinshasa, Margaret took charge of the maternity unit at Pimu Hospital in 1968. Congo, Democratic Republic of the: History Congo, Democratic Republic of the History Early History The indigenous inhabitants of the region of the Congo were probably Pygmies, who lived in small numbers in the equatorial forests of the north and northeast. By the end of the 1st millennium B.C., small numbers of Bantu-speaking people had migrated into the area from the northwest (present-day Nigeria and Cameroon) and settled in the savanna regions of the south. Aided by their knowledge of iron technology and agriculture, the Bantu-speakers migrated to other parts of the Congo and Africa, at the same time developing new, related languages. From about A.D. 700 the copper deposits of S Katanga were worked by the Bantu and traded over wide areas. By about 1000 the Bantu had settled most of the Congo, reducing the area occupied by the Pygmies.

By the early 2d millennium the Bantu had increased considerably in number and were coalescing into states, some of which governed large areas and had complex administrative structures. Most of the states were ruled by a monarch, whose authority, although considerable, was checked by a council of high civil servants and elders. Notable among the states were the kingdom of Kongo (founded in the 14th cent.), centered in modern N Angola but including extreme W Congo and a Luba empire (founded in the early 16th cent.), centered around lakes Kisale and Upemba in central Katanga. Also included among these states were the Lunda kingdom of Mwata Yamo (founded in the 15th cent.), centered in SW Congo; the Kuba kingdom of the Shongo people (established in the early 17th cent.), located in the region of the Kasai and Sankuru rivers in S Congo; and the Lunda kingdom of Mwata Kazembe (founded in the 18th cent.), located near the Luapula River (which forms part of the present Congo-Zambia boundary).

Through intermarriage and other contacts the Luba transmitted political ideas to the Lunda, and numerous small Luba-Lunda states (in addition to those of Mwata Yamo and Mwata Kazembe) were established in S Congo. The Kuba kingdom was noted for its sculpture and decorative arts. European and Arab Contacts In 1482, Diogo Cão, a Portuguese navigator, became the first European to visit the Congo when he reached the mouth of the Congo River and sailed a few miles upstream. Soon thereafter the Portuguese established ties with the king of Kongo, and in the early 16th cent. they established themselves on parts of the coast of modern Angola, especially at the court of the king of Ndongo (a vassal state of Kongo). The Portuguese had little influence on the Congo until the late 18th cent., when the African and mulatto traders (called pombeiros ), whom they backed, traveled far inland to the kingdom of Mwata Kazembe. In the mid-19th cent., Arab, Swahili, and Nyamwezi traders from present-day Tanzania penetrated into E Congo, where they traded and raided for slaves and ivory.

Some of the traders established states with considerable power. Msiri (a Nyamwezi) established himself near Mwata Kazembe in 1856, soon enlarged his holdings (mainly at the expense of Mwata Kazembe), and was a major force until 1891, when he was killed by the Belgians. From the 1860s to the early 1890s, Muhammad bin Hamad (known as Tippu Tib), a Swahili Arab trader from Zanzibar, who was also part Nyamwezi, ruled a large portion of E Congo NW of Lake Tanganyika. In the 1870s, on the eve of the scramble for African territory among the European powers, the territory of the Congo had no overall political unity. The Congo Free State Beginning in the late 1870s the territory was colonized by Leopold II , king of the Belgians (reigned 1865–1909). Leopold believed that Belgium needed colonies to ensure its prosperity, and sensing that the Belgians would not support colonial ventures, he privately set about establishing a colonial empire.

Between 1874 and 1877, Henry M. Stanley made a journey across central Africa during which he found the course of the Congo River. Intrigued by Stanley's findings (especially that the region had considerable economic potential), Leopold engaged him in 1878 to establish the king's authority in the Congo basin. Between 1879 and 1884, Stanley founded a number of stations along the middle Congo River and signed treaties with several African rulers purportedly giving the king sovereignty in their areas. At the Conference of Berlin (1884–85) the European powers recognized Leopold's claim to the Congo basin, and in a ceremony (1885) at Banana, the king announced the establishment of the Congo Free State, headed by himself. The announced boundaries were roughly the same as those of present-day Congo, but it was not until the mid-1890s that Leopold's control was established in most parts of the state.

In 1891–92, Katanga was conquered, and between 1892 and 1894, E Congo was wrested from the control of E African Arab and Swahili traders (including Tippu Tib, who for a time had served as an administrator of the Congo). Because he did not have sufficient funds to develop the Congo, Leopold sought and received loans from the Belgian parliament in 1889 and 1895, in return for which Belgium was given the right to annex the Congo in 1901. At the same time Leopold declared all unoccupied land (including cropland lying fallow) to be owned by the state, thereby gaining control of the lucrative trade in rubber and ivory. Much of the land was given to concessionaire companies, which in return were to build railroads or to occupy a specified part of the country or merely to give the state a percentage of their profits. In addition, Leopold maintained a large estate in the region of Lake Leopold II (NE of Kinshasa).

Private companies were also established to exploit the mineral wealth of Katanga and Kasai; a notable example was Union Minière du Haut-Katanga, chartered in 1905. The Belgian parliament did not exercise its right to annex the Congo in 1901, but reports starting in 1904 (particularly by Roger Casement and E. D. Morel) about the brutal treatment of Africans there (especially those forced to collect rubber for concessionaire companies) led to a popular campaign for Belgium to take over the state from Leopold. After exhaustive parliamentary debates, in 1908 Belgium annexed the Congo. The Belgian Congo Under Belgian rule the worst excesses (such as forced labor) of the Free State were gradually diminished, but the Congo was still regarded almost exclusively as a field for European investment, and little was done to give Africans a significant role in its government or economy. Economic development was furthered by the construction of railroads and other transportation facilities. European concerns established more large plantations, and vast mining operations were set up. Africans formed the labor pool for these operations, and Europeans were the managers.

By the end of the 1920s, mining (especially of copper and diamonds) was the mainstay of the economy, having far outdistanced agriculture. Some of the mining companies built towns for their workers, and there was considerable movement of Africans from the countryside to urban areas, especially beginning in the 1930s. Christian missionaries (the great majority of whom were Roman Catholic) were very active in the Congo, and they were the chief agents for raising the educational level of the Africans and for improving medical services. However, virtually no Africans were educated beyond the primary level until the mid-1950s, when two universities were opened. A noteworthy indigenous religious movement was that of Simon Kimbangu, who, educated by Protestant missionaries, around 1920 established himself as a prophet and healer. He soon gathered a large following and, although not explicitly anti-Belgian, was jailed in 1921 by the colonial government, which feared that his movement would undermine its authority. The Belgians outlawed Kimbangu's movement, but it continued clandestinely and became increasingly anti-European.

The Independence Movement In 1955, when demands for independence were mounting throughout Africa, Antoine van Bilsen, a Belgian professor, published a "30-Year Plan" for granting the Congo increased self-government. The plan was accepted enthusiastically by most Belgians, who assumed that Belgian rule in the Congo would continue for a long period. Events proved otherwise. Congolese nationalists, notably Joseph Kasavubu (who headed ABAKO, a party based among the Kongo people) and Patrice Lumumba (who led the leftist Mouvement National Congolais), became increasingly strident. They were impressed greatly by the visit in late 1958 of French president Charles de Gaulle to neighboring Middle Congo (now the Republic of the Congo), where he offered Africans the opportunity to vote in a referendum for continued association with France or for full independence. In Jan., 1959, there were serious nationalist riots in Kinshasa, and thereafter the Belgians steadily lost control of events in the Congo.

At a roundtable conference (which included Congolese nationalists) at Brussels in Jan.–Feb., 1960, it was decided that the Belgian Congo would become fully independent on June 30, 1960. Independence and Conflict Following elections in June, Lumumba became prime minister and Kasavubu head of state. However, the Republic of the Congo (as the nation was then called) soon began to be pulled apart by ethnic and personal rivalries, often encouraged by Belgian interests. On July 4 the Congolese army mutinied, and on July 11 Moïse Tshombe declared Katanga, of which he was provisional president, to be independent. There were attacks on Belgian nationals living in the Congo, and Belgium sent troops to the country to protect its citizens and also its mining interests. Most Belgian civil servants left the country, thus crippling the government. On July 14, the UN Security Council voted to send a force to the Congo to help establish order; the force was not allowed to intervene in internal affairs, however, and could not act against the Katangan secession. Therefore, Lumumba turned to the USSR for help against Katanga, but on Sept.

5 he was dismissed as prime minister by Kasavubu. On Sept. 14, Col. Joseph Mobutu (later Mobutu Sese Seko ), the head of the army, seized power and dismissed Kasavubu. On Dec. 1, Lumumba, who probably had the largest national following of any Congo politician, was arrested by the army; he was murdered while allegedly trying to escape imprisonment in Katanga in mid-Feb., 1961. By the end of 1960 the Congo was divided into four quasi-independent parts: Mobutu held the west, including Kinshasa (then called Léopoldville); Antoine Gizenga, the self-styled successor to Lumumba, controlled the east from Kisangani (then called Stanleyville); Albert Kalonji controlled S Kasai; and Tshombe headed Katanga, aided by Belgian and other foreign soldiers. The secession of Katanga, with its great mineral resources, particularly weakened the national government. In Apr., 1961, Tshombe was arrested by the central government (Kasavubu was back as head of state), but he was freed in June after agreeing to end the Katanga secession.

By July, however, Tshombe was again proclaiming the independence of Katanga. In August the UN forces began disarming Katangese soldiers, and in December UN and Katangese forces became engaged in battle. Throughout 1962, Tshombe maintained his independent position and in Dec., 1962, renewed UN-Katanga fighting broke out. Tshombe quickly was forced to give in, and in Jan., 1963, agreed to end Katanga's secession. However, the national scene remained confused, and there was considerable agitation by the followers of Lumumba. At the end of June, 1964, the last UN troops were withdrawn from the country. In desperation, Kasavubu appointed Tshombe prime minister in July, 1964, but this move resulted in large-scale rebellions. With the help of U.S. arms, Belgian troops, and white mercenaries, the central government gradually regained control of the country. Nonetheless, national politics remained turbulent and were highlighted by a clash between Kasavubu and Tshombe. In mid-1965, Kasavubu appointed Evariste Kimba prime minister.

In Nov., 1965, Mobutu again intervened, dismissing Kasavubu and proclaiming himself president; Tshombe fled to Spain. (In 1967, Tshombe was kidnapped and taken to Algeria; he died in 1969.) In 1966 and 1967 there were several short-lived rebellions (notably in Kisangani and Bukavu), and in 1966 an attempted coup by Kimba was defeated. The Mobutu Regime In late 1966, Mobutu abolished the office of prime minister, establishing a presidential form of government. Léopoldville, Stanleyville, and Elisabethville were given African names (Kinshasa, Kisangani, and Lubumbashi, respectively), thus in effect beginning the campaign for "African authenticity" that became a major policy of Mobutu in the early 1970s.

(In 1971 the country was renamed Zaïre, as was the Congo River; in 1972, Katanga was renamed Shaba—largely in an attempt to destroy the region's past association with secession—and Mobutu dropped his Christian names and called himself Mobutu Sese Seko, while advising other Zaïreans to follow suit.) By the end of the 1960s, the country enjoyed political stability, although there was intermittent student unrest. The government was firmly guided by Mobutu, who headed the sole (from 1970) political party, the Popular Movement of the Revolution (MPR). In 1970, Mobutu, the sole candidate, was elected to a seven-year term as president. In the early 1970s he centralized the administration of the nation, encouraged the participation of foreign firms in the economic development of the country, improved relations with neighboring independent countries, and maintained good relations with the West while establishing (1972) full diplomatic relations with China.

In 1973, Mobutu nationalized many foreign-owned firms in the attempt to reduce unemployment; however, the nation remained dependent on volatile world copper prices. Mobutu forced European investors out of the country in 1974 but invited them back (unsuccessfully) in 1977. In addition to economic decline in the 1970s, the government had to contend with increasingly active political opposition. Mobutu's policy of giving members of his own ethnic group (the Ngbanda) jurisdiction over security matters led to ethnic conflicts and a succession of coup attempts between 1975 and 1978. Opposition parties grew in number and in size; one of these, the Front Libération Nationale du Congo (FNLC), organized Katangese refugees forced out of the country by Mobutu. The FNLC, working from its base in Angola, launched a rebellion in the Katanga region but was repulsed after the intervention of French, Belgian, and Moroccan troops. Promising political reforms, the government made superficial changes to satisfy foreign aid donors, but the detention of dissidents and violent clashes between soldiers and students continued.

In the early 1980s opposition groups were organized in exile and formed alliances in the hopes of overthrowing Mobutu. In 1989 the country defaulted on a loan from Belgium, resulting in the cancellation of development programs and increased deterioration of the economy. In 1990, Mobutu announced an end to single-party rule and appointed a transitional government. However, he reserved for himself the position of head of state "above all political parties" and kept substantial power in his own hands. Rebellion and Civil War A loss of confidence in Zaïre's government and riots by unpaid soldiers in Kinshasa led Mobutu to agree to a coalition government with opposition leaders in 1991. He retained control of a far-reaching security apparatus and important government ministries, however, and engaged in a power struggle with opposition leaders. Economic collapse continued unabated, with the national infrastructure seriously deteriorating and civil servants, often unpaid for long periods, making money through bribery and theft of government property. The nation's problems were compounded by an influx of hundreds of thousands of Hutu refugees from Rwanda and a spillover of ethnic fighting between Hutus and Tutsis into Zaïre.

In mid-1994, Kengo Wa Dondo, an advocate of austerity and free-market reform, was chosen prime minister by parliament, but he was dismissed in Mar., 1997. In 1996 and 1997, while Mobutu was in Europe being treated for cancer, rebels dependent on support from Rwandan and Ugandan forces captured much of E Zaïre. The insurgents, who also received aid from Zambia and Angola, met little resistance from the ragged Zaïrean army and entered Kinshasa on May 17, 1997. Rebel leader Laurent Kabila was sworn in as president on May 29 and changed the name of the country to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mobutu died in Morocco on Sept. 7, 1997. Although Kabila promised that elections would be held in 1999, he banned all political opposition, and his regime soon became repressive.

His failure to revive the economy and to prevent the attacks upon thousands of Congolese Tutsis by their Hutu neighbors in the mid-1990s, as well as the revelation that his forces had probably massacred thousands of Rwandan Hutu refugees during their march across the country in 1996–97, led to a fading of both internal and foreign support for his government. The eastern part of the country remained unstable, and in Aug., 1998, a group of ethnic Tutsi Congolese forces supported by Rwanda mutinied against Kabila's rule and began advancing toward Kinshasa. Although they were repulsed, the movement grew, attracting opposition politicians, former Mobutu supporters, and disaffected military leaders formerly allied with Kabila. It also threatened to widen into a regional conflict, as Zimbabwe, Angola, and Namibia sent troops to aid Kabila's government, while Rwanda and Uganda backed the rebels. In July, 1999, following a peace conference in Lusaka, Zambia, the heads of the six governments involved signed a cease-fire agreement; the leaders of the two main Congolese rebel groups also subsequently signed the pact.

Kabila and his allies controlled most of the east and south of the Congo, and the rebels and their supporters controlled much of the north and west. By the end of the year, however, implementation of the accord was stalled, due in part to intransigence on the part of Kabila's government, and the much-violated cease-fire was in the process of collapsing. The United Nations approved a force to monitor the accord in Feb., 2000, but the situation in the Congo proved too unstable to permit the force to move in. Fighting erupted between Ugandan and Rwandan forces in Kisangani (as it had the year before), and Kabila's government launched an offensive in Équateur (NW Congo) and continued to resist cooperating with the United Nations and with African peace negotiators. A new agreement calling for the pullback of all forces was signed (without the participation of one of the rebel groups) in Dec., 2000. In Jan., 2001, Kabila was assassinated, reportedly by a bodyguard, and his son, Maj. Gen. Joseph Kabila, was named his successor.

Joseph Kabila's government resumed cooperating on peace negotiations, and ended the ban on political parties. Beginning in March the forces of foreign nations began pulling back from the front lines and, in some cases, pulling out from the Congo. Fighting largely ceased, although banditry by militias and fighting between tribal groups persisted in E Congo. Peace talks began tentatively in Oct., 2001, and in 2002 agreements were signed successively with one of the rebel groups, Rwanda, and Uganda, although no agreement was reached with the largest rebel force, the Rwandan-backed Congolese Rally for Democracy–Goma. By the end of Oct., 2002, most foreign troops had been withdrawn from the Congo. In 2010, a UN report on the years of civil war in Congo was leaked; the report accused multiple armies and militias of various serious crimes during the conflict, and indicated that the Rwandan army and its Congolese allies, Laurent Kabila's rebels, had massacred groups of civilian Rwandan and Congolese Hutus.

The government and both main rebel groups reached an accord in Apr., 2003, when they signed a peace agreement that called for a power-sharing government led by President Kabila, and an interim parliament. Despite the peace deal, fighting continued in parts of the Congo, especially between tribal groups in the east, and in June, 2003, the United Nations dispatched French-led peacekeepers to E Congo in an effort to restore order. In the same month the government and rebels agreed on the composition of the new government, which was formally established. Democratic elections were scheduled for 2005. By the time of the government's establishment it was estimated that 3.3 million people had died, directly or indirectly, as a result of the fighting that began in 1998. The French-led peacekeepers were replaced by 10,000 UN soldiers beginning in Sept., 2003; the force was subsequently increased to 16,000. In the first half of 2004 there were two attempted coups in the country, and progress toward real peace continued to be slow during the year.

By the end of 2004 rebel forces and the former Congolese army had been integrated into a unified force in name only. An uprising involving former rebels occurred in June at Bukavu in E Congo, although the rebels soon dispersed, and in December there was fighting in Nord-Kivu between former army and former rebel forces. The army forces had been sent into the area in response to threats by Rwanda to invade the region in order to attack Rwandan Hutu rebels based there. Congo accused Rwandan forces of invading and aiding the former Congolese rebels, a charge Rwanda denied, but a UN panel had accused (July, 2004) Rwanda and Uganda of maintaining armed units in E Congo and UN peacekeepers said that forces had entered Congo following Rwanda's threat to invade. The latter charge was called false, however, by a former UN employee in early 2005. Fighting between militias and UN peacekeepers occurred in NE Congo during 2005, as the area remained unpacified and some of the militias resisted disarming. Militia forces in Katanga prov. also refused to disarm, leading to fighting there in late 2005 between them and the Congolese army.

Because of the fighting and tensions within the government and logistical issues (a new constitution was not approved by the interim parliament until May, 2005) the elections scheduled to be held by June, 2005, were postponed into 2006. In Dec., 2005, however, voters approved the constitution, paving the way for electing a new government. The same month the International Court of Justice ruled that Congo was entitled to compensation from Uganda for looting by Ugandan forces during the recent civil war. The fighting in NE and E Congo continued off and on throughout 2006. The Ugandan army launched (Apr., 2006) a campaign against Ugandan rebels based in Congo and clashed with Congo's forces, prompting a protest from Congo. At the end of July, 2006, Congo held elections for president and the national and provincial legislatures. Voting was largely peaceful, but the vote count was slow and marred by irregularities.

Joseph Kabila won 44% of the presidential vote with a strong showing in E Congo, but failed to win the required majority; his party won 111 (out of 500) National Assembly seats and was able to form a governing coalition. The inconclusive presidential results sparked violence between Kabila's partisans and those of Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, the former rebel and interim vice president who was the runner-up (with 20% of the vote) and did well in W Congo, and violence subsequently marred campaign leading up to the October runoff. The vote count was not completed until mid-November, but Kabila was elected, with 58% of the ballots, and again he ran strongly in E Congo. Bemba rejected the result and contested it in court, despite the assessment of the election by most observers as free and fair; Bemba's challenge was rejected, and Kabila's election confirmed. Progess was made in disbanding a number of militias in E Congo in early 2007, but later in the year fighting broke out between army units that included former Tutsi militias and Rwandan Hutu militias based in the Congo.

Subsequent the Congolese army moved against the renegade Tutsi units, and Nord-Kivu was torn by off-and-on fighting in the second half of 2007. Meanwhile, in March deadly fighting erupted in Kinshasa between the army and Bemba's remaining forces, who had resisted disbanding. Bemba was accused of treason, while he accused the government of trying to kill him; he sought refuge in the South African embassy. In April, Bemba was allowed to leave the country for Portugal, in order to seek medical treatment. (In May, 2008, Bemba was arrested in Belgium on an International Criminal Court warrant that accused him with war crimes arising from the actions of his forces in 2002 in the Central African Republic, where they were aiding President Ange-Félix Patassé. He was extradited in July to the Netherlands to face trial, and formally charged in Jan., 2009.) In Aug., 2007, a border clash between Congolese and Ugandan forces occurred near the disputed Rukwanzi Island in Lake Albert; in September the nations agreed to demilitarize the island.

A cease-fire agreement was signed by some of the groups in E Congo in Jan., 2008, but conflicts between some of the many armed militias there continued. In Aug., 2008, government forces attacked Congolese Tutsi positions in E Congo, and ongoing fighting led the Tutsis to withdraw from the cease-fire agreement in October. After Tutsi successes against government forces, the government accused Rwanda of sending its troops into the Congo, a charge Rwanda denied; there was evidence, however, of Rwandan support for Congolese Tutsis. Rwanda and Congolese Tutsis countercharged that the government had allied itself with Rwandan Hutu militias accused of genocide. By the end of October Tutsi forces had advanced to Goma, the capital of Nord-Kivu. Peace negotiations, mediated by Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president of Nigeria, began in Dec., 2008. Meanwhile, in early 2008 there was violence between police forces and a religio-political sect (Bundu dia Kongo) in Bas-Congo prov.; the sect was banned in March.

In Dec., 2008, after Ugandan rebels led by Joseph Kony, based in and around Garamba National Park, Orientale prov., in extreme NE Congo, failed to sign a peace agreement with Uganda. Ugandan, Congolese, and South Sudanese forces mounted a joint campaign against the rebels' bases that continued until Mar., 2009. The operation was only partially successful. Ugandan rebels continued to attack Congolese civilians in subsequent years, and the Ugandan military also continued small-scale operations in Congo against the group. Congo troops were included in a planned Ugandan-led four-nation African Union military force to capture Kony that was announced in 2012. A joint Rwandan-Congolese operation (Feb.–Mar., 2009) captured Laurent Nkunda, the Congolese Tutsi leader, which led to his forces integration in the Congolese army and a peace accord between the government and the Tutsi. Local militia groups also signed integration agreements, but in 2010 some former rebels accused the government of failing to honor the accords.

Some rebels in Nord-Kivu and Sud-Kivu did not integrate, and remained a problem in subsequent months. The troops were less successful against the Rwandan Hutu militia, who resumed their attacks against civilians after the operation's end; the Hutu forces were the target of UN-supported Congolese operations in subsequent months. Both government and rebel forces were accused of criminal behavior and human-rights abuses in the conflict. The UN ended its support for Congolese government operations in Dec., 2009, amid criticism from aid agencies for heavy civilian casualties and from a UN panel for a lack of permanent results against Hutu forces, but a new UN and government offensive against the Hutu rebels began in early 2010. In Oct., 2009, ethnic fighting began in Equateur prov., and by Jan., 2010, some 120,000 had fled the area, most to the neighboring Republic of Congo. Constitutional amendments approved in Jan., 2011, generally strengthened the president's powers, and the elimination of a presidential runoff was seen as designed to aid Kabila's reelection.

Kabila was declared the winner of the subsequent election, in Dec., 2011, but the vote was marred by logistical shortcomings and other irregularities and by statistically evident fraud. The second place finisher, Étienne Tshisekedi, denounced the results and declared himself th Sections in this article: Leopoldville - definition, etymology and usage, examples and related words Leopoldville Definitions WordNet 3.6 n Leopoldville the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the Congo river opposite Brazzaville *** Usage In literature: His education began at Matadi, where he waited until the river steamer was ready to start for Leopoldville. "A Question of Latitude" by Richard Harding Davis Leopoldville is situated on Stanley Pool, just to the right of where the rapids start their race to the south. "The Congo and Coasts of Africa" by Richard Harding Davis A few miles further on, is the rail head, Leopoldville. "A Journal of a Tour in the Congo Free State" by Marcus Dorman His education began at Matadi, where he waited until the river steamer was ready to start for Leopoldville.

"Once Upon A Time" by Richard Harding Davis One attempt had already been made on the life of a Major Thorensen because he had failed to get the Nipe after a raid in Leopoldville. "Anything You Can Do ..." by Gordon Randall Garrett Leopoldville, 94, 106, 107, 109, 111. "The World and Its People: Book VII" by Anna B. Badlam *** In news: They still fight over his legacy, from Paris, where legislators will soon mark his 70th birthday by debating whether he was a rightist or a leftist, to this city formerly called Leopoldville, where he had his defining adventure. CNN - Researchers trace first HIV case to 1959 in the Belgian Congo - February 3, 1998 Researchers trace first HIV case to 1959 in the Belgian Congo February 3, 1998 Web posted at: 7:41 p.m.

EST (0041 GMT) CHICAGO (CNN) -- HIV probably originated in the late 1940s or early 1950s, and showed up in people 10 to 20 years earlier than has previously been estimated, researchers said Tuesday. Dr. David Ho and colleagues from the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York told a conference they traced the very first case of HIV infection to a man living in what was then the Belgian Congo in 1959. The scientists found HIV in a blood sample taken from the man, who was a member of the Bantu tribe. The HIV in the sample looks like an ancestor of several subtypes of HIV now found around the world, suggesting that HIV "evolved from a single introduction into the African population in a time frame not long before 1959," the researchers said. CNN's Al Hinman reports Leading AIDS researchers said Ho's new study, which is detailed in the latest edition of the journal "Nature," is a significant advance in the understanding of the disease and could prove important in developing an AIDS vaccine. Dr.

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the new proof of HIV's earliest origins is important to scientists because it offers a much clearer picture of the evolution of the virus and a better way to predict its future evolution. "The ancestral HIV-1... must have existed before 1959, probably only a few years before 1959," Toufu Zhu, who worked on the study, told the Fifth Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections. Ho "The Big Bang seems to have occurred around, or just after, the Second World War," wrote Simon Wain-Hobson of the Pasteur Institute in Paris in a commentary in "Nature." The 1959 victim, who lived in Leopoldville, now Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, had first turned up at a clinic with symptoms resembling sickle cell anemia -- a hereditary blood disease that primarily affects Africans in which oddly-shaped red blood cells clump together, causing anemia, blood clotting and joint pain. Doctors kept samples of the man's blood, and Ho's team analyzed it.

Using well-established genetic dating methods, they determined that the virus could not have existed for many years before 1959. Fauci said the research refutes various "conspiracy theories" that HIV is the by-product of Cold War germ warfare tests or poorly-conducted polio vaccine tests. "This finding also refutes the suggestion that HIV-1 subtype B infection was responsible for AIDS-like syndromes beginning in the 1930s in various European populations," the researchers wrote in the report. Scientists have yet to learn how HIV first infected humans. Many viruses come from animals, and HIV is believed to have come from monkeys -- but it is not clear how. Another presentation at the conference on Tuesday gave a hint: Francois Simon and colleagues at the Bichat hospital in Paris and the Pasteur center in Cameroon found a strain of HIV that seemed to be halfway between the human and the ape versions of the virus. Monkeys and chimpanzees get a disease known as Simian Immunodeficiency Syndrome, caused by a version of the HIV virus known as SIV. But chimps and monkeys infected with human HIV do not get AIDS in the same way as people, meaning the virus mutated at some point.

Simon's group analyzed the blood of a Cameroonian woman who died of AIDS in 1995. Her strain of the virus was unique and fell halfway between HIV and SIV genetically. It was identical to an odd strain taken from a chimpanzee. The finding "strongly supports the hypothesis that HIV came from a simian virus," Simon told the conference. However, little is known about the women, her family or history. It is not possible to say how she might have caught the virus from a chimpanzee. "It's very difficult, but ... in Africa people eat monkeys," Simon said. Many scientists believe the virus spread to humans through infected ape or monkey meat. Reuters contributed to this report. Democratic Republic of the Congo vs Republic of the Congo - Difference and Comparison | Diffen Democratic Republic of the Congo vs. Republic of the Congo Diffen › Geography › Countries Democratic Republic of the Congo and Republic of the Congo are two different countries located in Central Africa. In the late 15th Century the Congo River delta was a major commercial hub for trade. That is the period when the inhabitants of the Congo River delta first came into contact with Europeans.

Leopold II of Belgium acquired rights to the Congo territory (Zaire region) at the Conference of Berlin in 1885 and made the land his private property and named it the Congo Free State. In 1908 the Belgian government took it over and then it was called Belgian Congo. On 30 June 1960 it got its independence under the name “Democratic Republic of the Congo". In the 1880s the French made Middle Congo (modern Congo) its colony and named Brazzaville as its capital. On August 15, 1960 it got its independence and chose the name "Republic of Congo". In order to avoid confusion the countries were commonly referred as Congo-Léopoldville and Congo-Brazzaville, with reference to their capital. Sometimes Congo-Léopoldville was referred as The Conga and Congo-Brazzaville as just Congo. On June 1, 1966, Mobutu renamed Léopoldville as Kinshasa. The country was then named Democratic Republic of The Congo – Kinshasa. Comparison chart 4 References Geography Map of Africa. DRC is roughly in the center and the Rep.

of Congo is to its west. The two countries are neighbors, with the DRC being the larger of the two countries and Republic of Congo to its west. DRC shares borders with Angola , the South Atlantic Ocean, the Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic , the Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania across Lake Tanganyika, and Zambia. ROC has Democratic Republic of Congo in the southeast, Gabon in the west, Cameroon and the Central African Republic in the north. It has a short Atlantic coast. Administrative Divisions Democratic Republic of the Congo is divided into 10 provinces and one city. The city is Kinshasa and the provinces are Bas-Congo, Équateur, Kasai-Occidental, Kasai-Oriental, Katanga, Maniema, Nord-Kivu, Orientale and Sud-Kivu. The Republic of the Congo is divided into 12 departments. They are Bouenza, Cuvette, Cuvette-Ouest, Kouilou, Lékoumou, Brazzaville, Likouala, Niari, Plateaux, Pool, Sangha, Pointe Noire. Departments are further divided into communes and/or districts.

Other names The Democratic Republic of the Congo was formerly known as (in chronological order) the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Congo-Léopoldville, Congo-Kinshasa, and Zaire (Zaïre in French). These former names are sometimes referred to, as unofficial names, with the exception of Mobutu's discredited Zaire, along with various abbreviations, such as, Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo and DRC. Coat of Arms and Flags Flag of the Democratic Republic of Congo Coat of arms of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Flag of the Republic of Congo Coat of arms of the Republic of the Congo References Kinshasa Then and Now: Leopoldville 1928 - New Capital of the Colony Leopoldville 1928 - New Capital of the Colony ﻿ View of Kinshasa district 1920s - railroad right of way along future Boulevard 30 Juin ﻿﻿﻿ ﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿ ﻿ ﻿﻿ ﻿ Leopoldville in 1928 was a hive of activity.

Since 1923, the entire urban agglomeration stretching from Leopoldville (Kintambo) to Kinshasa had officially been designated as Leopoldville. The new administrative district of Kalina was under construction between the two localities, incorporating a “garden city” plan with a classical layout of radial avenues. This required the relocation of the original aerodrome (from where the contemporary Catholic Centre Inter-Diocesaine is located) to Ndolo. ﻿ Queen Elisabeth visits the African hospital ﻿ Leopoldville’s development was confirmed by King Albert and Queen Elizabeth’s visit in July. The King inaugurated the new Chamber of Commerce, an equestrian monument to his uncle, King Leopold, in the heart of Kalina, as well as a monument to the veterans of World War One at the entrance to Kalina on the road to Leopoldville. The royal couple visited Texaf, the largest textile plant in the country, several schools and the hospital. The Queen’s assessment of the Kintambo hospital site along the river was that it was too narrow, and plans were made to develop the Queen Elisabeth hospital in Kalina.

The Queen also visited Sacre Coeur church in Kalina and laid the cornerstone for the Lycee, the first school in the city for European children which later became Lycee Bosangani. At the same time, the colonial government held a competition for the design of the Governor General’s residence to be erected on Kalina Point. Belgian architect Raymond Moenaert’s “beaux arts and orientalist” design was selected, but the residence was never built due to budgetary constraints of the Depression. Construction of the residence was eventually resurrected in 1951 with a new design competition. Nearly completed at Independence in June 1960, the structure was put into service as the first Parliament. The main road from Kinshasa to Leopoldville followed Avenue Van Gele from Place Leopold (where the Forescom building was built in 1946) past the BMS Church turning off onto Avenue Valcke at the entrance to Kalina. The road crossed a small bridge across the Gombe River known as Petit Pont and then followed the rail line to Leopoldville.

The rail line from Ndolo, running parallel some 50 meters to the south of Van Gele and Valke, separated the European town from the African quarters. It was relocated about a kilometer further south in 1932 to provide more space for the growing capital. The railroad right of way became the grand Boulevard Albert in the 1950s. Reliable electric power was being delivered to the city from a hydro-electric dam under construction at Sanga on the Inkisi River near Sona Bata. The Texaf textile factory was the primary customer and the company built a substation near its factory at Petit Pont to supply the rest of the city through its subsidiary Colectric. A new port with nearly 400 meters of quays was being developed at Kinshasa. The old port at Kintambo suffered from proximity to the rapids and lack of space to expand. The docks and facilities of the old Marine du Haut Congo were transferred to a new company in 1928, the Chantier Naval et Industriel du Congo (CHANIC). ﻿﻿﻿﻿ Hotel ABC on the Congo River ﻿﻿﻿﻿ Danish and Swiss Consulates opened in 1928.

Shell Oil began operations and a company called “Compagnie Industrielle et Transport Automobile au Congo” established the first bus service serving the port, the railroad station and the 4-story iron Hotel ABC. The buses had 22 seats, of which 18 were reserved for Europeans. Sabena Airlines launched regular service between Leopoldville and Coquilhatville. Other commercial houses included Amato Freres, Comindus, the Compagnie Coloniale Belge (PEK), Congomane, Gillespie, Huileries du Congo Belge, Interfina, NAHV, Sedec and Synkin. Retail commerce was mostly in the hands of Portuguese merchants. ﻿ BMS Church built 1915 ﻿ In September, Protestant Missions in the Belgian Congo celebrated the 50th anniversary Jubilee of evangelization work in the colony. More than 175 missionaries attended the celebration in Leopoldville, organized by the Congo Protestant Council. The (British) Baptist Missionary Society (BMS), and the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society (ABFMS), which pioneered the work in January and February 1878 respectively, sponsored 67 of the 176 delegates.

The proceedings were in English and no Congolese attended the event. Governor Alphonse Engels of Congo-Kasai Province and his suite took tea on the BMS grounds in Kinshasa district of the growing city, established as the capital of the colony five years previously, but still under construction before the colonial administration could transfer from Boma in the estuary of the Congo River. King Albert sent a letter of congratulations. The American Baptist mission (through its predecessor Livingstone Inland Mission), was one of the first churches to establish itself on Stanley Pool. But after 1898, the year the railroad reached Leopoldville from Matadi, the mission decided to relocate its headquarters to Matadi, which was closer to Boma. The primary rationale for the Kintambo station, providing logistic support to the ABFMS stations upriver in Equateur, including Ikoko, Irebu, Tondo and Tshumbiri, was assigned to the Congo Balolo Mission (CBM). CBM operated ABFMS’ “Henry Reed” and other small steamers from the small pier below the chapel Dr. Aaron Sims built in 1891.

From 1913, Pastor Moses Kikwakwa of the Sona Bata mission field, ensured the work of the church in Kintambo, under the supervision of missionaries at Sona Bata. Missionaries were initially ambivalent about the growing urban center. By 1928, ABFMS decided to resume missionary activities in the city. In May 1930, Henry Erickson arrived at Kintambo, while Peter and Ruth McDiarmid came the following August to assume the responsibilities of Field Secretary. The accounting functions were transferred from Matadi about the same time. The Congo Protestant Council was already present on the station overlooking Ngaliema Bay, having built its residence on the concession in 1928. ABFMS built a two-story building opposite Sims Chapel with apartments for the Field Secretary above the secretariat offices on the ground floor. Both buildings were likely built by local European contractors rather than a missionary builder. On October 31, 1929, Governor Tilkens and his cabinet officially moved from Boma to Leopoldville. The stage was set for the rapid growth and development of the city as the capital of the Belgian colony. Posted by

Question: Which African capital was previously called Leopoldville?
Answer: Kinshasa